


It's going to be okay

by earlgreyteawrites



Category: Voltron - Fandom, klance - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Vld keith - Freeform, keith kogane - Freeform, kieth fic, klance, klance fic, klance fluff, lance fic, lance mcclain - Freeform, lance serrano - Freeform, vld keith fic, vld klance - Freeform, vld lance - Freeform, vld lance fic, vld season 7 fix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-07 16:51:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16857709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreyteawrites/pseuds/earlgreyteawrites
Summary: The game show really shook Lance up, a lot more than he'd like to admit, although he might HAVE to admit it at this point.





	It's going to be okay

    “Woah.” Keith said over the coms. Lance blinked. Oh…right. The game show. His head felt fuzzy, partially because he felt like he just woke up from being knocked out, also because of all of those stupid games that he’d had to play. It kind of made him feel stupid, especially considering that weird game show host kept calling him ‘dum dum’.

    Everyone chattered over the coms, laughing about what had happened…but Lance didn’t feel like laughing, he was really shaken up at the moment. There were a lot of reasons. Number one, he’d almost been fed to the Snick. Number two, he’d been plunged into liquid that could have boiled him alive had Pidge not attacked the host. Number three…he almost got stuck there for all eternity and-

    …Oh.

    Lance paused for a moment, thinking about what Keith had said only a couple minutes ago.

    _“I just don’t wanna be stuck here for eternity with Lance.”_

    Everyone laughed while Pidge explained the whole ‘beating up the show host’ thing to Coran, who was horrified. Lance didn’t think that was so funny anymore. He didn’t feel like joining the others or laughing, he just felt awful. Instead he flicked on autopilot for Red, crawling out of his seat.

    Thankfully, he got Kosmo for the night. The wolf was curled up in the corner of the cockpit, his fluffy belly moving up and down as he slept. Lance tried to whistle for him, but his lips were trembling to much for it to actually create sound. Lance genuinely wanted to cry. Of course, it wasn’t just because of what Keith had said, what Keith had replied with had definitely contributed to this, but he was mostly just scared that he was going to die.

    “Kosmo?” Lance croaked. The wolf raised his head, meeting Lance’s watery eyes. Lance held out his arms, begging for some comfort from the wolf. Kosmo seemed to understand, much to Lance’s relief. The wolf yawned, stretching out briefly before moving into Lance’s arms, settling his fluffy puppy head on Lance’s shoulder.

    Lance wrapped his arms tightly around Keith’s pet, letting himself lie down on the floor. His helmet clacked uncomfortably against the metal of his lion. He definitely wouldn’t rate the paladin armor was the most comfortable, especially not when he was in a mood like this. So Lance quietly removed it, Kosmo watching him peel off the under suit, leaving him in his sweaty t-shirt and boxers. Lance didn’t want to bother getting pants, so he simply grabbed the blanket Kosmo had been sleeping on and wrapped it around him.

    At times like this, he wished his family was there to tell him it would be okay. His mom would make his favorite dinner for the night, his sisters would play mario cart with him and his brothers would tell him stories. He would’ve told the rest of the paladins he was scared and really shaken up, but…they clearly wanted to talk about it. They thought it was funny. Lance didn’t.

    The paladins had been in the face of death numerous times, but the thing about that was, Lance had actually died before. It was terrifying, being in pain and then suddenly nothingness. He’d had nightmares about his death ever since the first night after. Allura had brought him back, sure…but he still felt that fear. And in the game show, Bob or whatever his names was…Bob controlled it. If Lance died, Allura couldn’t save him again. He’d be dead for good. They wouldn’t be able to form Voltron, he wouldn’t be able to see his family on earth. He would drift in that nothingness forever and always, never able to come back.

    Not only that, but his death wouldn’t be short and sweet like it was at first. His death would be long, painful. It had almost happened several times, the snick could’ve chewed him to a pulp, and if Pidge hadn’t interfered, he could’ve been boiled alive.

    Lance shivered, hugging the wolf tighter. He wasn’t cold, but he couldn’t stop the chills running up and down his spine. The laughter and the chatter from the coms didn’t help. It just made him even more panicked. Was he the only one having a panic attack? Was he the only one truly affected by this?

    At least Kosmo was helping just a little bit. The wolf was licking his face, though it didn’t help with calming him down as much as he hoped it would. He still felt shaky and disoriented. Not just that, but he was still hurt because of what Keith had said…about not wanting to spend eternity with Lance.

    Lance’s answer…he’d meant it. He wanted Keith to know that he valued him. He wanted Keith to know he cared and that he wanted Keith to understand that he was truly the most capable in Lance’s eyes. And knowing that Keith felt nothing in return…it just made it all the more painful.

    Lance started to cry. He couldn’t help it. He was just so overwhelmed and scared and just…ugh. He felt like he was going to throw up as tears streamed down his cheeks. Kosmo tried to lick them away, but Lance just cried more out, enough that the wolf couldn’t keep up. But, at least Kosmo was soft, it was a little bit comforting as they curled up on the floor together.

    “-was hilarious!” Hunk cracked up. Through the video icon on Red, Lance could see he had gone into full on belly laugh mode. Pidge was cackling, wiping away tears. Allura was cracking up. They were all having a good time. Keith was even smiling, which was a rarity.

    Lance didn’t want to see Keith right now, he didn’t even want to hear Keith. He was already overwhelmed by the near death, he didn’t need his king jerkiness to be there too.

    “Yeah, Lance, why did my knife drawing look like chopsticks to you?” Keith asked. Lance froze where he was. He didn’t think he was in the view of the other paladins. He was decently well hidden in the corner with Kosmo. Nobody would be able to see him through the video chat.

    “….Where’s Lance?” Hunk suddenly asked, his voice panicked. Lance felt bad for worrying his friend, but…he didn’t want anyone to see him crying. They were all laughing, unbothered by what had just happened. Nothing was troubling them, so why should Lance be crying?

    “…Wait, what if he’s still in the game?!” Pidge suggested. The laughter and amusement instantly fell. Chatter exploded over the coms. Pidge was yelling, Hunk was listing off the worst possible scenarios in a worried voice, Allura was screaming ‘How are we going to form Voltron?!’. But as for Keith, Keith looked terrified. He said nothing for a long time, but through the video Lance could see his hands shaking.

    “Everyone! Shut up!” Keith yelled. Instantly everyone went quiet. “…Kosmo. Come here boy.” he stared through the screen. Lance could feel his eyes drifting around. He panicked, forcing himself to stay quiet as more tears dripped down his face. “Kosmo!” Keith called, whistling loudly. Instantly, the wolf burst out of Lance’s arms, leaving him with nothing but empty space. The wolf reappeared on the screen showing Keith. Great…

    Lance watched, feeling even more panicked as Keith shifted Black to auto pilot, placing his hand on the wolf and talking to it. He could only hear mumbles, so he didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but Lance felt panic nonetheless. Was Kosmo telling Keith something? Did they have a weird mind connection like Allura did with the mice? What if Keith found out he was crying? What if-

    Lance’s thoughts were cut off as Kosmo suddenly appeared in front of him, but he wasn’t alone.

    Keith’s face relaxed, but drew up a worried expression.

    “It’s okay guys, he’s in here. He uhm…” Keith paused, his eyes flickering over Lance’s face. “…He passed out. I think Kosmo moved him here so he could lie down.” everyone sighed with relief. “I’m going to bring him to bed. I think we all deserve a nap anyways. You can all go to bed.” he dismissed them. The other paladins seemed grateful for the opportunity to sleep, their coms turning off one by one.

    Lance felt himself shaking. It could’ve been anyone to come and get him, so why did it have to be Keith? _Especially_ when he was in his underwear, having a panic attack and crying.

    “You scared us for a minute. Are you okay?” Keith mumbled, looking like he felt awkward. Lance refused to respond, turning his head in the other direction. Kosmo trotted over to him, nestling closer to Lance and using his tongue to groom Lance’s hair. Lance buried his fingers inside of the wolf’s coat, refusing to look at Keith. “…Lance?” Lance reached up, wiping his eyes with his palm. “…What’s wrong?”

    “Screw off.” Lance blubbered, holding Kosmo closer to him. He tried to bury his face as deep as he could into the wolf’s fluffy coat. The less of his face Keith could see, the better.

    “Lance, I’m just trying to help-”

    “Well maybe _you’re_ part of the problem!” Keith paused. He thought back to what had happened in the last few minutes. He didn’t think he said anything or did anything…especially not to the level where he would make Lance cry. But Lance had blamed Keith.

    Keith kneeled besides Lance, feeling even more confused as Lance shuffled away, dragging the blanket with him. Lance’s paladin armor was discarded, lying on the side along with his undersuit., which explained the blanket thing. But Keith still didn’t really understand what was wrong.

    “What’s the problem?” he asked, trying to remain calm for the sake of his teammate. Lance removed his face from Kosmo’s fur. His eyes were filled with rage, like a fire was flickering within them. Although he was still crying, he was definitely intimidating.

    “I could’ve _died_ in there.” Lance snapped, “I could’ve _died_ , and everyone is laughing like I wasn’t about to be fed to a giant monster or boiled to death.” Keith could see the fear on Lance’s face as he continued to snap at him, “I was _scared_ okay?! I thought I was going to die _again_! Do you know how terrifying that is? Do you know what it feels like to have everything go black and for you to _know_ you’re probably never going to come back?! And it wasn’t like Allura was going to magically bring me back to life like last time. Bob controlled the show, if I died, I…” Lance’s voice choked out for a second. He swallowed thickly, trying to continue, “I would’ve stayed dead.”

    Keith froze for a moment. Not only had he not known anything about Lance’s previous death, but…he hadn’t expected him to admit something so personal so fast. Keith could tell that Lance was hurt. Now he understood a lot of it was because he truly thought he was going to die.

    “…Lance, I’m sorry, none of us knew how scared you were-”

    “Obviously not!” Lance yelled back, throwing his arms in the air. “It’s not like you guys care about my feelings anyways! Especially not _you_!” Lance pointed an accusing finger at Keith.

    For just a moment, Lance was able to maintain his angry face, he was able to hold it together. But soon he felt his lips trembling, sobs beginning to escape his throat. More tears slipped out of his eyes as he tried to look more angry than he was hurt…but it wasn’t possible. Lance just wished that Keith would take his space wolf back to Black and leave him alone. This was truly the worst possible way to cry.

    “Lance, I…I _do_ care about your feelings.” Keith tried to reach out and touch his shoulder, but Lance flinched back. He didn’t want to be touched, especially not by Keith.

    “Then explain the ‘I don’t want to spend eternity with Lance’ thing!” Lance blubbered. He couldn’t even see Keith anymore through his tears. Lance wanted to be angry. He wanted to scream and punch and kick like he was three years old. But Lance knew he was just hurt, that he just felt alone…and he felt weak because of it. He didn’t know what to do.

    “…Lance, I…” Keith hesitated, “I didn’t mean it.”

    “Then why did you say it?!” Lance cried. He knew he was a mess, tears falling from his cheeks down his neck. His eyes felt as red and puffy as they probably looked. And not to mention, there was snot running out of his nose. He was truly a mess.

    “Because I’m, _I’m bad with words_ …okay?”

    “That’s not an excuse!” Keith felt a pang in his chest,

    “No…it’s not.” agreed quietly, reaching out to touch Lance again. This time Lance didn’t pull away, specifically because he could hardly see. But regardless, Keith fit his hand on the small of his teammates back. “…I’m sorry for the things that I said. And I’m also sorry that I wasn’t paying attention to how scared you were. I should’ve been trying to understand how you were feeling just about everything and I should’ve been more aware of what I was saying. That was very insensitive of me and I should’ve noticed sooner. I hope you can forgive me for that.” Keith said as calmly as he could manage, slowly beginning to run his fingers along Lance’s back.

    Lance couldn’t respond for a little bit after that. He was crying too much to be able to get out a clear answer. Keith coughed awkwardly. He wanted to help, but he wasn’t exactly sure what to do. He really cared about Lance, and seeing him so torn up like this…it kind of scared him a little bit. He wondered if Lance ever went through this alone…he’d isolated himself from the others when he started crying, he’d moved from his seat. That could mean he’d cried by himself a lot more than just this one time. That made Keith want to throw up.

    “It’s okay Lance.” Keith tried. It didn’t end up helping. Lance just leaned on Kosmo, sniffling into the wolf’s soft fur. “I…I’m sorry.” no response. Keith was starting to get nervous at this point. “Are you still angry with me?” finally Lance looked up, his eyes still shimmering with tears. He looked like a complete mess, tears and snot smeared across his whole face, eyes red and puffy. His adam’s apple kept bobbing like it was stuck in a little box, unable to escape. Lance looked like he was going to throw up, or maybe even faint.

    “I don’t know.” Lance finally blubbered, “I’m just so tired of being scared all the time and I’m so tired of not being wanted-”

    “We want you Lance, why would you think something like that?” Keith mumbled. He leaned cautiously over. Keith wasn’t one for hugs, or any kind of physical touching, but there were certain times when his discomfort didn’t matter. He wrapped his arms gently around Lance, using a hand to guide his friend’s head to his shoulder. Lance let out a soft sob, wrapping his arms back around Keith. Immediately he felt awkward, kind of patting Lance’s back like one would do to a baby.

    “I don’t know anymore.” Lance cried, trying to get a grip on Keith’s back, but his armor was making it hard. Keith hadn’t considered that it might be uncomfortable, so he quickly pressed the button to release it, leaving him in his under suit. It was sweaty and kind of gross, but Lance didn’t seem to mind. He just wanted a hug.

    “I wanna go to bed.” Lance sniffled, “I just wanna sleep.”

    “Are you sure?”

    “Yeah.” Lance croaked, nodding into Keith’s shoulder. Keith helped Lance to his feet, steadying him as Lance wrapped the blanket tightly around himself. Keith kept an arm around Lance’s shoulder as they walked to his temporary bed. “…Keith?”

    “Mhm?” Keith mumbled.

    “…Why did you say that at the game show?” Keith felt himself tense at that. He helped Lance settle in bed, handing him tissues and watching him lie down before he said anything.

    “…I…” Keith hesitated, “I…didn’t want everyone to know…why I chose you I mean.” he mumbled quickly. He just wanted to get this over with already.

    “Why did you?” Lance asked, blowing his nose. Keith reached up, rubbing his arm awkwardly. He really wasn’t good at stuff like this. Talking about his feelings definitely wasn’t his strong suit by any means.

    Keith waited for Lance to finish blowing his nose before he said anything.

    “…I chose you because I knew that if you got out…you would come back for us. You’re loyal and a good friend. And I figured that even if you didn’t end up getting out…at least you could see your family again. And plus I was kind of freaked out because you kept getting hurt and….yeah.” what he’d managed to say wasn’t even half of what he thought, if anything it was a pathetic sentence compared to the book he could write over the reasons he wanted Lance to be the one freed from the game show. The fantasy of Lance sweeping him up in his arms and kissing him smack dab on the lips after bursting through the doors of the game show…was… probably not something he would like to share at the moment. Because yes, Keith got the feeling Lance liked him back, but…that didn’t mean he was correct. And that didn’t mean he had to share the daydream either.

    Lance smiled a little at Keith’s answer, but still looked upset to some degree as he lied on his back, staring at the ceiling. Keith knelt besides his bed as Kosmo climbed on top of the pillow, curling up besides Lance’s head. Lance let out a deep breath, looking at Keith.

    “…So, you didn’t mean it when you said that you didn’t want be to be there with you for eternity?”

    “No…I just…I guess I was embarrassed.” Keith muttered, feeling his cheeks redden. Lance managed a slightly pained smile.

    “Good to know.” he mumbled. It was clear he felt better than before, especially since he wasn’t crying, but…he was still put off. It was likely because of the whole ‘still afraid he was going to die’ thing. Keith didn’t know what it was like to die, but he’d nearly come in contact with it many times. He understood that feeling, that drop in your chest. He understood the way your heart pounded and how your body began to submit…and you knew it would be over. It was terrifying. He couldn’t imagine feeling that more than once in such a short amount of time.

    “…Are you still scared.”

    “Yeah.” Lance mumbled, petting Kosmo’s head gently.

    “….Would you like me to stay? Black can stay on autopilot for a little while.” Lance hesitated for a moment, looking Keith in the eyes with a quiet gaze. Lance thought for a moment, worrying a little bit about whether that would be a good idea. But his emotions overruled reason rather quickly.

    “I’d like that.” he mumbled. “…Sorry, you know, for being a bother-”

    “No, its fine.” Keith interrupted quickly, “Seriously…I’m just glad that you’re not crying anymore…it kind of freaked me out, since, I’m…y’know-”

    “Not good with people. Yeah.” Lance smiled a little, feeling a nervous flutter in his chest. He felt a little bit stupid for crying now…but at least they’d fixed the problem for the most part. At least the problem with the whole ‘lance and eternity’ comment was over now…though he was still shaken up.

    Lance closed is eyes, attempting to go to sleep. He could feel his body shaking uneasily and he cuddled up to Kosmo.

    “…Do you have nightmares?” Keith suddenly asked out of nowhere. Lance had almost forgotten he was there. It was kind of weird that he asked that considering that’s sort of what Lance was afraid of at the moment…the nightmares that were coming.

    “Yes.” Lance mumbled, feeling embarrassed as he pulled his blankets just a little bit tighter around him. He still wasn’t too fond of Keith potentially seeing him in his underwear considering the situation was already awkward enough as it is. He’d cried, yelled, hugged, talked and now he’d basically asked Keith to watch him while he slept….so…that totally wasn’t at least a little bit weird in any way. Nooo, absolutely not.

    “Sorry if that’s a weird question…I just…I used to get them after I almost died…so, yeah.” Keith mumbled, not looking Lance in the eyes. Wait…Keith almost died?

    Lance paused for a second, turning around in the dark. Keith looked at him quietly, rubbing his arm in an awkward way.

    “You almost died?” Lance asked, feeling slightly breathless. He didn’t know what to feel. Yes, sure, they had all almost died together several times, but that felt so much different then dying on your own. And by the way Keith had phrased it, Lance assumed it hadn’t been with the team.

    “…Yeah. You know when you were trapped on that planet? The one that was a giant bomb?”

    “Yeah?”

    “Well, I was about to crash my ship into the cruiser so I could save you guys before Lotor shot it up. I had nightmares about it for a couple months after….so I figured you might, I don’t know…have them too, sorry.” Keith looked to the side, clearly embarrassed.

    “…Oh…I didn’t know that.” Lance mumbled blankly. It wasn’t like it was hard to believe, but…the thought that Keith could’ve been gone and he wouldn’t have even known. That kind of scared Lance a little bit.

    “I was, uhm…I only mentioned it because…” Keith hesitated a moment longer, trying to find a way to say it. “…When I was little and got nightmares, my dad would always hold my hand until I fell asleep. I figured, maybe it could help?”

    Lance blinked, watching as Keith awkwardly extended his hand. Keith’s face had gone cherry red, eyes swiveled towards the ground. It was clear he felt a little bit flustered about the idea. There was no way Lance could refuse, not only because the idea of holding hands with Keith made his stomach flip flop, but because the offer had been so sweet and sincere.

    Lance gently grasped Keith’s hand, intertwining their fingers just a little bit slower than he probably should’ve.

    “Thanks Keith.” Lance said gently, “That’s really sweet of you.” Keith didn’t respond to that, blushing deep colors as Lance quietly shuffled back into a better position in bed. Kosmo went back to licking Lance’s fluffy hair, resting his head against the paladin’s neck.

    Only five minutes later, Lance was peacefully dreaming.

    Keith took that moment to look at their connected hands. Then another moment to brush back the red paladin’s soft hair. He was perfectly content, though still a little bit flustered.

    It was funny, he’d been through so much. So many near death experiences, so many fights, so much war. And yet, the thing that brought the most emotion from inside of him, was a brown skinned blue eyed teenage boy sleeping in the bed besides him. Keith knew that they still had a lot of work to do. He knew that it would take some time before they could all finally relax again and live their lives as normal people. It meant waiting a long time to hopefully confess his feelings to Lance someday.

    Keith knew it wasn’t the time for that…but he leaned down and kissed the red paladin’s cheek anyways.

    “I love you.” he mumbled softly, letting his fingers quietly brush Lance’s cheek a final time before turning to his wolf. And soon, Keith was in Black once again, leaving Lance with Kosmo….smiling to himself.


End file.
